France given boost as economy grows faster than expected

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The French economy grew by a faster-than-expected 2 percent in 2017, as investment and output picked up in the fourth quarter, revised figures from the national statistics agency INSEE showed on Wednesday.

At 2 percent, full-year growth is nearly a full percentage point above the 1.1 percent recorded in 2016, the data showed, providing a further boost for President Emmanuel Macron after good news on the jobs front earlier this month.

But the performance of the eurozone's second-biggest economy still fell short of 2.5 percent growth for the single currency area as a whole in 2017 and 2.2 percent for Germany.

The government had officially projected full-year growth to come in at 1.7 percent, but in January said that stronger-than-expected investment and production figures could take it closer to two percent.